Beyond EITI

This article is part of Executive’s special report on the oil and gas sector. Read more stories as they’re published here, or pick up October’s issue at newsstands in Lebanon.   A paradox confronts countries endowed with oil and gas resources. Despite their riches, these countries tend to grow slower in the long term, have higher income inequality, be more corrupt and even become authoritarian. This, of course, is not the fate of all such countries — many have managed to turn the oil curse into a blessing. Those that did had two things going for them: a high level of human capital and good institutions that upheld checks and balances on power. Although Lebanon is well endowed with human capital, its institutions are generally weak. The Taif Agreement redistributed power more equally across the three key institutions — the presidency, the parliament and the prime ministership — that are associated